This invention relates generally to improved bottle carriers whereby a person can conveniently carry a plurality of bottles. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to a light weight bottle carrier, preferably constructed from plastic, that facilitates the carrying of a six-pack of bottles and the like.
Initially, bottles, such as soft drink bottles, were simply placed in wooden boxes and transported in this manner. Later, dividers were added in the boxes to prevent the bottles from banging together and breaking since, at the time, the bottles were generally constructed from glass. In more recent years, the sale of soft drinks and the like in six pack units has become popular and a variety of designs have been utilized for facilitating the carrying of the six bottles by one person. Initially, the early six pack designs were simply constructed from cardboard or heavy paper and emulated the divided cases, except that they only held six bottles and were generally provided with some form of carrying handle.
More recently, plastics have been utilized more and more as they have become less expensive and stronger, to construct the six pack carriers. Initially, the plastic carriers were constructed very much as where the paper carriers.
With the advent of plastic bottles, and especially in the larger sizes, bottles have been shaped in a manner that somewhat lends itself to more unique carrier designs. For example, many of the bottles are provided with concave bottoms so that the relatively thin plastic containers are capable of holding the pressure applied inside the bottles. As is well known, the bottles are also necked down to provide for convenience of pouring and for reducing the size of the cap, thereby making it easier to contain the pressure within the bottle.
Bottle carriers constructed in the past have worked reasonably well. However, the paper containers were subject to disintegration if they became wet, the initial plastic containers were relatively expensive, and many of the later designed containers were not reusable.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved bottle carrier that is reusable, extremely light weight, designed for the more modern plastic bottles, and one that is relatively expensive.